Decontamination Guide
Follow this easy to use guide to rid your vehicles paint of any Industrial fall out, tar, adhesive, tree sap, and pretty much anything else that shouldn’t be there!
The decontamination stage if often overlooked, however carrying out these steps not only rids your paintwork of contamination that hinders the look of the vehicle but also makes polishing, sealing and waxing much easier. The cleaner the paint surface the better sealants and waxes can bond to the paintwork in turn making the protection last longer.
Equipment Required
- Pressure Washer
- Clay Bar & Clay Lube
- Iron Removal Product
- Tar Removal Product
STEP 1: Wash Your Car
The first step of decontaminating your vehicles paintwork is to wash your car thoroughly (more info on how to do this is available in our Safe Washing Guide).
STEP 2: Tar / Adhesive removal
Once your vehicle has been properly washed we can now move onto using a Tar / Adhesive remover. You should use a specific product designed to remove bitumen and glue safely and easily without you having to scrub the paintwork.
Spray the tar remover liberally over the entire vehicle, it will quickly and effectively remove all glue, tar, adhesive residues, without you having to touch the paint at all. Once the product has been left for 5-10 minutes rinse the entire vehicle down ensuring all of the tar remover is removed from the paint.
Top Tip: Never leave this product to dry, and try to use in a shaded area if possible.
STEP 3: Iron Removal
To use an Iron Removal product follow the same principles as Tar / Glue removal. Spray the product liberally over the entire bodywork (and wheels if you want), the solution will leave the bottle clear but on impact with iron particles it reacts and turns purple (a great visual indication that the product is working).
Once the product has been left for no longer than 5-10 minutes simply rinse away to leave your cars paint free from iron contamination. Again, remember not to let this product dry on the paint.
This process may need to be repeated on stubborn areas of fallout.
STEP 4: Claying
Claying is designed to remove the contaminants that the above chemicals cannot, these consist mainly of Tree Sap, and Paint Overspray. In this example we used our own 200g Clay bar which can be found via the online shop.
Top Tip: You’re not just limited to claying you paintwork. Windscreens, Windows, Lights, pretty much any surface on a vehicle can be clayed to remove those suborn contaminants.